This piece originally appeared in December 2012 at another site
Not too long ago I relocated from Oakland, California to the NYC area.
On a recent afternoon, my father, chess book author Fred Wilson, took me
to small Bergen County, New Jersey town called BOGOTA, New Jersey to
check out a tiny row of antique shops on Fort Lee Road near the railroad
tracks. The stores are full of cool, reasonably priced collectibles and
furnishings. These cartoon wood cut out figures of 1940s cartoon
character Jiggs and a lady were on display at the first shop . . .
The
highlight of Bogota's 'blink and
you'll miss it' row of antiques shops is a gem of a store called Good
Things run by a friendly
and knowledgable fellow named Dan Navarro, who still has a day job at a
publishing company when not running the shop. He has a great selection
of items that could rival the inventory in any hipster Soho shop of
similar antiques but I bet Bogota's treasures are more reasonably priced
. . . rare, mod Italian lamps, vintage belt buckles, assorted
vases, figurines and a gold leaf deco cat are just some of Dan's cherry
picked goodies that make Bogota worth a trip over the Hudson River.
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| me in front of Good Things |
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| my father talking with Dan of Good Things |
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| Funky medical ear chart tray at Good Things |
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| cool cookie jar at Good Things |
Dan recommended a film about Bogota called 'Anytown, USA'. Another
highlight of his groovy little shop was seeing the cool apple cookie jar
at Good Things and then buying some cookies at the Palisades Park
bakery! We finished up with lunch at a real, chrome diner, the Jackson
Hole in Englewood, New Jersey which has excellent food. They have
little, flip card jukeboxes at each table and make real whipped cream
for the sundaes.
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| cookies from the Palisades Park bakery |
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| Jackson Hole Diner in Englewood, NJ |
